EUGENE -- In what should have been a confidence builder for the BYU men's tennis team (No. 68) turned out to be the second loss on the road for the Cougars falling to the Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette 4-3.
With injuries plaguing the Cougars throughout the match, two of the singles matches finished in defaults. Richard Dasek pulled out of competition after the doubles match and was replaced on the singles line up with Freshman Chip Hand at the No. 2 position.
Nima Roshan's singles play was terminated early due to an injury. BYU received one point for one of the defaulted matches and lost the other.
Despite the efforts of duo Eric Nyman and Nima Roshan pushing passed Amanjot Singh and Evghenii Corduneanu the Ragin Cajuns in a 9-8 decision, the Cougars struggled to earn the doubles point to begin the match.
The three points for BYU came when Nyman, Hand and Ivan Kokurin posted a 6-4, 6-2 win for the Cougars. Nyman powered past Louisiana's top seeded Corduneanu in two straight sets 6-1, 6-0.
Head coach Brad Pearce was disappointed at the loss and hopes the Cougars can learn from the upset as they face No. 7-ranked Washington tomorrow.
"We will play our toughest team tomorrow," Pearce said. "I just want to go out and have a good showing and play well tomorrow. We don't have anything to lose. After these last two days, our team knows what hard work really is."
BYU vs. Louisiana-Lafayette --
Doubles:
Nyman/Roshan (BYU) def. Singh/Corduneanu (UL) 9-8
Ellison/Ley (UL) def. Dasek/Kokurin (BYU) 8-2
Castellana/Kovalev (UL) def. Medina/Hand (BYU) 8-4
Singles:
Eric Nyman (BYU) def. Corduneanu (UL) 6-1, 6-0
Chip Hand (BYU) def. Amanjot Singh (UL) 4-6, 1-2, default for Hand
Marc Castellana (UL) def. Nima Roshan (BYU) 5-6, default win for Castellana
Ivan Kokurin (BYU) def. Ley (UL) 6-4, 6-2
Shaun Ellison (UL) def. Tim Bradshaw (BYU) 6-3, 6-3
Ivan Kovalev (UL) def. Alonzo Medina (BYU) 6-4, 7-6